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China to advance new urbanization, coordinated regional development in 2025: report

China

China

China

China to advance new urbanization, coordinated regional development in 2025: report

2025-03-05 12:31 Last Updated At:14:37

China will advance new urbanization and coordinated regional development in 2025, according to a government work report delivered by Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday.

Delivering the report at the opening meeting of the third session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Li said China expects to further improve the spatial layout of its development through measures in multiple areas.

"We will thoroughly implement strategic initiatives for new urbanization. Well-conceived and systematic measures will be taken to grant permanent urban residency to people moving to cities from rural areas. Moreover, we will ensure that they have full access to basic public services in their place of permanent residence; and we will intensify support to see that children living with them receive compulsory education in cities. We will also enable those eligible to join the housing support system and see that they have smooth access to social security programs," said the premier.

"Sustained efforts will be made for urban renewal schemes and the renovation of old urban residential compounds to build livable, resilient, and smart cities," he added. "We will redouble efforts to implement regional strategies. We will create greater synergy between the coordinated regional development strategy, major regional strategies, and the functional zoning strategy, so as to foster new growth poles," said Li.

"We will support major provincial economies in assuming greater responsibility, and encourage other regions to fully tap into their local conditions and distinctive strengths in pursuing development. Efforts will be made to promote deeper industrial collaboration between eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions," said Li.

The third session of the 14th NPC is scheduled for March 5 to 11.

China to advance new urbanization, coordinated regional development in 2025: report

China to advance new urbanization, coordinated regional development in 2025: report

The U.S. State Department announced Wednesday that it is pausing immigrant visa processing from 75 countries.

The measure will apply to "countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates. The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people," the department said on X.

The pause impacts countries including Somalia, Haiti, Iran and Eritrea, "whose immigrants often become public charges on the United States upon arrival," said the State Department.

Earlier on Wednesday, the department announced in a memo that it would suspend visa processing for 75 countries, including Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Thailand and Yemen, according to a Fox News report.

The pause will begin Jan. 21 and will continue indefinitely until the department conducts a reassessment of visa processing, the report said. The move came after the White House announced on Tuesday that it is ending temporary protected status for Somali immigrants amid fraud allegations in Minnesota.

On Monday, the State Department announced on social media that it had revoked over 100,000 visas since U.S. President Donald Trump took office nearly a year ago.

In November 2025, Trump announced his intention to permanently suspend immigration from what he described as "Third World countries", following the death of a National Guard member after being shot near the White House by an Afghan national.

U.S. freezes immigrant visa processing from 75 countries

U.S. freezes immigrant visa processing from 75 countries

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